163 stories by "Don Shirley"
Center Theatre Group lost one "Funny Girl" but should check out the 3-D Theatricals version with phenomenal Nicole Parker, in Fullerton. Also, the Colony's "Breath and Imagination."
A mostly-black "Death of a Salesman" at South Coast Repertory and an all-women's and cross-racial "Hamlet" at Odyssey Theatre demonstrate differences in non-traditional casting.
Gertrude Stein, writing about the transformation of the site of her previously pastoral childhood home, coined the phrase ...Continue Reading
The LA Times proclaims a vogue for Macbeth but ignores LA's Macbeths. In the Next Room and Rapture Blister Burn examine characters named Catherine from more than a century apart.
Another look at Southern California-set plays includes three productions in San Diego -- Sideways, Double Indemnity and Second City's take on the city, plus Open House in LA.
Shakespeare's original As You Like It is in Griffith Park and a countrified musical version, Tanglin' Hearts, is at Theatre 40. Chalk Rep's Lady alfresco Lady Windermere's Fan is at Clark Li…
The Pasadena Playhouse is filling its summer with some unorthodox shows, including Cirque-a-Palooza's circus and variety evening, The Road to Palooza.
Why did the LA Times fail to cover LA's first 21st century appearance of the set-in-LA musical Sunset Boulevard? Plus looks at three smaller musicals.
Of the five plays in the 2013 Contemporary American Theater Festival in West Virginia, two are set in LA and a third has an LA scene.
Classics galore: A mighty Macbeth from Independent Shakespeare, an awesome Alcestis from Boston Court and Critical Mass, Shakespeare Center's Midsummer, Theatricum's Shrew, more.
Three current productions draw on interesting moments, places or people from Greater LA: Bronzeville at LATC, revolver at Celebration Theatre, and Sweet Karma at Grove Theater Center.
A look at some of the shows about women on LA stages -- The Judy Show, Heart Song, Opheliamachine, Hungry Woman and others.
The Hollywood Fringe Festival isn't just for fresh faces -- it's a place where some shows get second chances.
Comedy requires a sense of balance -- witness Yes Prime Minister, Neva, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Bob: A Life in Five acts. Plus the LA debut of A Man of No Importance.
Here they come. In LA theater, summer is now known primarily for two annual phenomena — lots of ...Continue Reading
Presentational performances, aimed straight at the audience, are not only in the musicals The Scottsboro Boys, Sleepless in Seattle, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Next tor Normal but als…
Such plays as The Fantasticks, Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers and Timon of Athens revel in artifice. Cops and Friends of Cops and Long Way Go Down minimize it. And Trainspotting...
LA STAGE Day's hottest topic, diversity, is the subject of LA STAGE Watch.
The first half of the 20th century was tough -- look at Our Class, Parade, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and The Royale.,
Chance Theater presents The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project Ten Years Later in rep. Plus thoughts about a few other plays with gay characters.
Falling For Make Believe is a masterful new musical about Lorenz Hart -- his homosexuality included -- by Mark Saltzman, at the Colony Theatre. Also glances at two shows about street turmoil…
"American" in a play title often signals "metaphor ahead." The new and compelling American Misfit at Boston Court is about the concept of American revolution and uses both a 1790s frontier s…
A landmark weekend for large-scale site-specific dance in LA included the premiere of Stephan Koplowitz's Red Line Time in the Red Line subway and a revival of Trisha Brown's Roof Piece at t…
Cornerstone Theater's Lunch Lady Courage is inspired by Mother Courage but looks a little too much like an adventurous high school play. Two cheers for Charles McNulty's withering analysis o…
Two companies introduce newly configured spaces within their buildings to present productions about suicidal young men -- Spring Awakening at La Mirada and Melancholia at LATC. The Nether at…
